Today, while preparing breakfast, as usual, I’ve been listening to the radio, where the “California Dreaming” was played. And at the same moment, I felt like 4 years ago experiencing my Greek summer again. I had even felt the smell of the sea, yogurt, and olives. Had you ever experienced the same? I am sure, you did! This psychological effect is known by almost everyone, hearing the song or any type of sounds and suddenly coming back to the place where you used to listen to the song. Why is it happening like that? Let’s try to deeply understand this issue.
The connection between music and memory
The connection between music and memory is amazing, and new research is planning to find how does it work and which therapeutic impact it has. It is as of now used to help dementia patients, the old people, and for those experiencing depression. Music is a significant memory helper for many years. David C Rubin is a master in personal memory and oral conventions and in his pivotal book Memory in Oral Traditions, he clarifies how epic stories like Homer’s the Iliad and The Odyssey were passed down verbally with a poetics. Before the accounts could be recorded, they were recited or sung. Oral convention relied upon memory.
The connection between music and memory is very clear. The question remains open, why when we hear a specific melody, we feel forceful feelings as opposed to simply having the option to recount the verses? There are various types of memory, including explicit and implicit memory. Explicit memory is an intentional, cognizant recovery of the past, regularly offered by questions like where was I that year? Who was I traveling with? When implicit memory is a more reactive one, which evokes the memory feelings, without a need to think about the details.
Usually, the music brings us back to the teenage time, university life, or best times of our twenties. The thing is that usually, those are the times when we experience some things for the first time. Later on, life is not ending up, but feelings are not so great that is why memories are harder to be recalled by the music or some sounds.
Normally the Pop music brings out memories from the time in our lives. Why? Indeed, this music is played on the background all the time, regardless of whether we chose it or not. There is continually something on the radio, in the car, pubs, by street musicians, and in restaurants. Pop music is likewise existing apart from everything else. Just try to listen to the music from the 1980s, for instance, and you will have a feeling that you know how that time seemed like. There is something progressively conceptual about, state, western traditional music, which has turned out to be increasingly isolated from its unique time and might be harder to place.
The same situation is seen with the sounds of nature, one friend of mine, is always turning on the sounds of train, frogs or birds because it makes him feel like sleeping at his parents’ house. Sounds are evoking the feelings, memories, making you relaxed, calmer and life becomes better.
